iPhone SMS to Telegram
Forward iPhone SMS to Telegram
Send selected iPhone texts to your personal Telegram chat. Read your alerts wherever you use Telegram, with Apple Shortcuts and your own bot.
iPhone · iOS 26 or later. Your receiving iPhone stays on and online. No Fwrd account or new phone number needed.
The route
Set up once. Texts forward on their own.
First, get your Telegram bot token and chat ID, as the setup guide shows. Then Fwrd’s own setup hands you a ready-made shortcut to add in Shortcuts.
Fwrd’s setup in these steps needs iOS 27. On iOS 26, add Telegram as shown under Build it yourself.
Choose Telegram in Fwrd’s setup
On the iPhone, open Fwrd and tap Set Up Forwarding at the end of the intro. When it asks where your texts should go, choose Telegram.
Enter the token and chat ID
Paste the token into Bot token and the number into Chat ID, then continue. Fwrd checks the shape of both first.
Bot token + Chat ID ← BotFather and getUpdates
Add the ready-made shortcut
Choose which texts to forward. Tap Get Shortcut. In Shortcuts, tap Add Shortcut, then ◀ Fwrd at the top left.
Switch it on
Tap Open Shortcut. In Shortcuts, tap Edit, then › after “where” (not ×), and turn on Automation.
Allow the first run
Fwrd runs the shortcut once with a sample text, which counts as one forward. Shortcuts asks twice the first time: tap Allow, then Always Allow.
You’re all set
That’s it. New matching texts now go to your Telegram chat on their own, with the iPhone unlocked or locked. After the iPhone restarts, unlock it once and forwarding carries on.
Build it yourself
On iOS 26, or to build the automation yourself, follow these steps instead. First, connect Telegram in Fwrd using the setup guide. Tap Send Test Message, then save the destination with the tick and leave it active. Next, set up the incoming-message trigger on your iPhone:
Create a Message automation
On the receiving iPhone, open Shortcuts. On iOS 27, go to Library → Automation and tap +. If you see Describe a shortcut, tap Edit. Tap Automation, then Message, and change Sender to Message. Type a word your texts contain, such as code or verification: matching on the message catches short codes and senders outside your Contacts, which Sender can’t. Then tap the arrow beside the trigger and check that Confirm Before Run is off. Under ⓘ, then Privacy, check that Allow Running When Locked is on. On iOS 26, tap Automation, then +, then Message, and choose Run Immediately.
Message contains ← your word · Confirm Before Run ← Off · Allow Running When Locked ← On
Add Fwrd’s Forward Message action
Search for Forward and add Fwrd’s Forward Message to All Destinations below the trigger. Tap Message in it, tap Select Variable, and choose Shortcut Input; Shortcuts adds a Receive block at the top, which is fine. Tap back to save. On iOS 26, tap Create New Shortcut first, then add the action: its Message fills in as Shortcut Input. Tap Done.
Message = Shortcut Input
Good to know
- You add the Message automation to Shortcuts yourself, and you control it there.
- The iPhone must receive the SMS, stay powered on, and have internet access. Unlock it once after a restart.
- Each matching message goes to every active destination in Fwrd, unless that destination’s filter skips it. Turn off destinations that should not receive it.
If your text does not arrive
If Send Test Message fails, check your destination credentials and permissions. If Send Test Message arrives but texts don’t, check the automation: that it’s switched on, your Message Contains keyword, the Message input, and that it runs without asking. If the destination has a filter in Fwrd, check it with Try a Text.
Check Fwrd’s Activity for a failed attempt, and that you have forwards left on the free plan. If you restarted the phone, unlock it once.
See every Telegram fix in the guideData and control
Your message goes directly from your iPhone to Telegram, without passing through Fwrd servers. Fwrd sends only the original message text, with no timestamp or title, and adds who sent it only if you turn on Include Who Sent It. Telegram keeps its copy under its own privacy policy. Fwrd keeps a local forwarding log containing message text, destination, time, and delivery result. It never stores the sender. Keep tokens and webhook URLs private.
Start with 15 free forwards each month
No paid subscription required. The allowance resets each calendar month. Pro removes Fwrd’s monthly limit.
US prices: $4.99/month or $29.99/year. The annual plan includes a 7-day free trial for eligible customers, then renews at $29.99/year until canceled.
See all pricingForwarding iPhone texts to Telegram: FAQ
Can I automatically forward iPhone SMS to Telegram?
Yes. Fwrd sends selected incoming iPhone texts to your own Telegram chat automatically, through a bot you create with BotFather. You set up a Message automation in Apple Shortcuts once, and after that each text that matches it is sent from your iPhone to the chat.
How do I forward text messages from my iPhone to Telegram?
Create a bot with @BotFather, open its chat and tap Start, then read your chat ID with getUpdates. On iOS 27, open Fwrd and follow its setup: choose Telegram, enter the bot token and chat ID, and choose which texts to forward. Then tap Get Shortcut, add Fwrd’s ready-made shortcut in Shortcuts, and switch on its automation. Fwrd then runs the shortcut once with a sample text, and Shortcuts asks for permission twice: tap Allow, then Always Allow. On iOS 26, add Telegram in Fwrd with the bot token and chat ID and tap Send Test Message, then create a Message automation in Shortcuts with a Message Contains keyword and Run Immediately, and add Fwrd’s Forward Message to All Destinations: its Message fills in as Shortcut Input. That’s it: each matching text now goes to your Telegram chat on its own, with the iPhone unlocked or locked.
Do I need my own Telegram bot?
Yes. Fwrd has no shared bot, so you create your own with @BotFather in a few minutes and paste its token and your chat ID into Fwrd. That keeps your texts between your iPhone and Telegram: with a ready-made bot, they would pass through a bot someone else runs. Open the chat with your bot and tap Start before you add it in Fwrd: a bot can’t message you until you do.
Why forward iPhone texts to Telegram?
Telegram shows the same chat on your phone, computer, and the web, and keeps the history, so codes and alerts are easy to find wherever you are.
Can I forward texts to more than one Telegram chat?
Yes. Add each chat in Fwrd as its own Telegram destination, with the same bot or a different one. Every text that matches your automation goes to all of them, unless you give a chat its own filter in Fwrd: only texts with certain words, only texts that look like a verification code, or only texts at certain hours.
Does forwarding to Telegram work when my iPhone is locked?
Yes. Fwrd sends the request from your iPhone in the background, without opening the app, as long as the automation is set to run without asking. The iPhone has to stay on and online, and after a restart you need to unlock it once before forwarding works again.
Is it free to forward iPhone texts to Telegram?
It’s free for up to 15 forwards per calendar month, with no Fwrd account and no subscription. One text counts once, however many destinations it goes to. Fwrd Pro removes that limit for $4.99/month or $29.99/year, and the annual plan includes a 7-day free trial for eligible customers. Telegram’s own limits still apply.
Can Fwrd forward texts to a Telegram group?
Yes. Add the bot to the group, send /start@your_bot there, and use the group’s negative chat ID; a supergroup’s starts with -100. Enter that ID in Fwrd, tap Send Test Message, and save.
Can I choose which texts get forwarded to Telegram?
Yes, in two places. Only texts that match your Shortcuts Message automation reach Fwrd. Set Message Contains to a word that appears in the texts you want, such as code, verification, or delivery. Match on Message Contains rather than Sender, because the Sender picker only offers your Contacts and misses short codes. Then each Telegram destination in Fwrd can have its own filter, under Which Texts: only texts with words you choose, only texts that look like a verification code, or only texts that arrive at certain hours. Try a Text checks a filter on a sample text. For the filter to do the choosing, set Message Contains to a single space.
Does Fwrd see or store the texts I forward to Telegram?
Fwrd handles the text only on your iPhone: it never passes through a Fwrd server, and there’s no Fwrd account. Fwrd sends only the original message text, plus who sent it if you turn on Include Who Sent It, and keeps a local log on the iPhone with the message text, destination, time, and result. It never stores who sent the text, not even in that log. Telegram keeps its copy under its own privacy policy.